Reuse Case: Cultural Appropriation

An EU-funded participatory project on critical pedagogies in the arts is named Teaching to Transgress Toolbox after a well known book by Afro-American feminist activist teacher and author bell hooks. Participants in the project question whether the re/use of this title is a form of unethical cultural appropriation: Is it ethical to use this title for a project organized by white folks in three European art schools? The bell hooks Foundation in Paris is asked to give an opinion. The foundation supports the reuse of the book title for the educational project. That opinion appeases the nervousness in the group. But this process leaves others to wonder why the bell hooks Foundation has been readily accepted as the authority in resolving the concerns, or whether there would have been other ways to address the concerns.